(meteorobs) VA Boom / Possible Meteor

[Marc Fries]

I concur.  I've examined the weather radar data and there's an object in 
there that has me scratching my head, but it definitely isn't a meteor. 
Skies were as clear as a bell and no one reported lights in the sky.

On the up side, the world is definitely not coming to an end today.

Cheers,
Marc Fries

On 5/14/11 7:04 AM, Mike Hankey wrote:
> Here two fantastic examples of bad meteor journalism, both about the same
> event.
>
> http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20110512/sc_space/mysteryboominvirginialikelyameteor
>
> http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1386943/Close-encounter-NASA-say-earth-shattering-boom-prompting-hundreds-911-calls-just-meteorite.html
>
> I think a bad story started with space.com and then was syndicated /
> copied / morphed into a worse story by the daily mail and possibly other
> outlets. There are so many errors, especially in the dailymail story, its
> sad. Also with NASA in the headline, end of the world in the first sentence
> and a picture of dozens of fiery meteors (still in space) headed towards
> earth..., well all I can say is wow. My guess is, the NASA scientist quoted
> in the story will be hazed on monday.
>
> Putting the errors aside, I do not think this was a meteor simply because
> there are no witness reports of seeing a fireball in the sky. The sound was
> reported between 7-7:30 according to:
>
> http://www.fox43tv.com/dpps/news/local/mystery-surrounds-boom-felt-over-region_3806684
>
> There are only 2 ams reports for May 10th, and these came in between 9-10
> PM. The reports came from AL and NC, which are relatively close, but not
> really and the NC report saw it to the west.  No reports from Dirk's website
> either that I saw / can remember. (dirk can you confirm?). When a meteor
> produces a sonic boom there are usually dozens of visual reports to
> accompany the sonic reports.
>
> Granted it would have still been light outside, so this may have hindered
> the visual reports, but it was a great night, clear / no clouds, warm,
> people would have been outside. It seems unlikely to me that a meteor big
> enough to create a sonic boom would go un-noticed by visual observers over
> such a densely populated area.
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